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Speaker:

Tobias Donner (University of Amsterdam)

Content:

How do neural circuits "make decisions"? The goal of this course is to gain insight into the neural mechanisms that transform graded mental representations into categorical propositions. Such mechanisms lie at the heart of every decision we make, from the simplest to the most complex. We will focus on simple perceptual choice tasks, in which decisions are based on representations of the sensory environment. Neurophysiological recordings during such tasks have characterized neuronal dynamics in several areas of the brain’s sensory-motor pathways. We will highlight analogies between these neuronal dynamics and abstract ‘decision variables’ postulated in psychological models. One important conclusion is that even simple decision processes are widely distributed across multiple distant regions of the brain. We will discuss current attempts to understand how decisions emerge from the large-scale interactions between these brain regions. We will also discuss recent biophysical models of recurrent cortical decision networks that have highlighted the key mechanisms underlying the observed neuronal decision dynamics. Finally, we will turn to more complex decisions based on the subjective values assigned to the different options. We will focus on how the basic mechanistic principles elaborated for simple decisions may generalize to more complex ones.

Disciplines:
Neuroscience, mathematical psychology, neuroeconomics

CV:
MD, Charité, Humboldt-University of Berlin (2003). Doctorate, Berlin Neuroimaging Centre, Charité (2003). Postdoctoral fellow, Dept of Neurophysiology, Hamburg and Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute, Nijmegen (2003-6). Postdoctoral fellow, Computational Neuroimaging Lab, Center for Neural Science, New York University (2006-9). Assistant Professor, Brain & Cognition, Dept of Psychology, University of Amsterdam (since 2009).